March 12 2007

Carl Fletcher

CARL FLETCHER has hit out at the Crystal Palace fans who booed Ben Watson.

Watson was shockingly jeered as he stepped up to take a 90th minute penalty against Leicester on Saturday.

He buried the spotkick to give the Eagles a 2-0 win after FLETCHER had put the home side ahead in the 13th minute.

Club captain FLETCHER was fuming with the fans' abuse and praised Watson for keeping his cool to put the kick away.

"A lot of us were disappointed with the fans booing Ben as he stepped up to take the penalty," he said.

"It's not nice for any player to get that sort of reaction from his own supporters. He can take great credit from staying cool to score.

"Ben's always been a confident lad with dead-ball kicks and he did fantastically well. He will look back on this experience and it will help him. It will make him stronger."

FLETCHER, 26, was thrilled with the Eagles backline after they kept a clean sheet.

"As a team we defended well - the back four were fantastic and Gabor got another clean sheet," he said.

"I don't think there are any easy games in this division, we knew it was going to be tough and the first goal was going to be important, so obviously we are delighted with three points."

He added: "We've got a tough week with West Brom and Plymouth away. We know that if we put in a good performance, then the result will look after itself."